Zadok Discipleship Course - Armed for War
37
Be Strong in the Lord
The Command Before the Armor
Ephesians 6 • Position • Strength Before Battle
This is not a promise. It is a command. For these lessons, we are going to use this passage of Scripture as our launching point - to discover one of the most important truths in the Word of God. God never intended for you to suffer defeat.
Before we move into the individual pieces of the armor of God, we must first address the position God intended us to fight from. Everything else depends on getting this right.
At a Bible study on the armor of God, the teacher said: "Every morning when you get up, you go through each piece and declare, I put on the belt of truth. I put on the breastplate of righteousness."
A young believer raised his hand: "If I have to put it on every morning, does that mean I took it off the night before?"
The armor of God is incredibly powerful - but we have to understand it God's way. And it starts in verse 10: not with the armor itself, but with the strength to wear it.
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Be Strong in the Lord
Ephesians 6:10 • Zechariah 4:6 • The Source of Strength
Be strong in the Lord. Not in your intellect. Not in your doctrine. Not in your denominational traditions. Not even in your personality or gifting. Be strong in the Lord.
Not intellect. Not doctrine. Not personality or gifting. Not denominational tradition. Not church size. Not natural might or natural power.
Empowerment through union with Christ. Strength drawn from His boundless might. Supernatural power by His Spirit. Received through relationship - not manufactured.
The sobering reality: The devil knows his time is short. He is upping the ante. We are trying to deal with today's demonic assault with yesterday's weaponry, yesterday's power, and yesterday's level of spiritual strength. That is not going to be sufficient for what is coming.
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We Can No Longer Fake It
The Escalating Battle • Natural vs. Supernatural Strength
Right now, in many places, we can fake Christian victory. We have enough natural safety nets that we can sustain the appearance of strength without walking in the power of God. But the battle is going to become so intense that faking it will no longer be an option.
Most Christians - perhaps ninety percent - walk primarily in their own strength. They learn the Christian language, how to manage circumstances through natural intelligence and natural effort. And it works, until it doesn't. Until the battle escalates beyond the reach of natural ability.
Supernatural experiences are vital. But you cannot build your Christian walk on moving from one experience to the next. There must be a well inside you - a place of abiding strength that does not depend on an emotional high. You must learn to walk in the abiding presence of God that empowers you continuously.
"Jesus went from prayer to prayer, and in between He performed miracles. Your walk with God needs that kind of continuity - not from spiritual fix to spiritual fix, but from prayer time to prayer time, drawing from an unbroken union with Him."
- Dr. Steve FossIn the days that are coming, we will no longer be able to fake it. We will have to rise up in supernatural strength. We will have to have the supernatural power of God operative in our lives every single day.
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Be Strong - It Is a Command
Deuteronomy 20 • Joshua 1:9 • Isaiah 35 • The Provision Is Inside the Command
Notice: "Have I not commanded you?" He is not making this available as an option. He is not suggesting it as a nice idea. He is commanding it. And that same voice is speaking to the church in this hour.
When God speaks a command, He does not give it without the provision to fulfill it. In Genesis: "Let there be light" - inside the word was the power to bring about what was declared. The same principle is at work now. When God says "Be strong," He is releasing into you the very strength He is commanding you to walk in. The faith to fulfill the command is carried inside the command itself.
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Strengthened in the Inner Man
Ephesians 3:16 • Colossians 1:11 • The Soviet Illustration • Isaiah 40
The strength God is speaking of is not psychological strength. It is not positive thinking or sheer determination. It is a supernatural reinforcement in the inner man - the eternal being inside this physical tent - by the Holy Spirit Himself.
When the Soviet revolution came, the regime realized quickly that physical imprisonment was not enough. The only way to truly conquer a person was to win their heart - to enslave what was on the inside. Because if they could control the inner man, they could control the person entirely.
But if the inner man remained free, no outward prison could ultimately hold them.
God is speaking to exactly that place. He is not promising your external circumstances will never be difficult. He is promising that if you walk in His strength, the enemy will never be able to touch who you really are on the inside. Your heart, your identity, your spirit - these will remain unshaken.
The strength of God rises on the inside. Almighty God stands up as a mighty warrior within you. And that strength - His boundless might - enables you to face whatever comes.
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Be Filled with His Strength
The First Command • Union with God • A Well of Abiding Power
The first command is not "put on the armor." The first command is "be strong." Everything in this unit flows from here. You cannot fight today's battle on yesterday's power. But in Christ, you do not have to. His strength is boundless, His might is inexhaustible, and He is offering it to you right now.
A new strength is coming to the body of Christ. It is not natural strength. It is not psychological strength. It is the strength of Almighty God standing up as a mighty warrior on the inside of His people. It is not built in a weekend. It is not manufactured at a conference. It comes through union with Him, through waiting on Him, through an abiding relationship that goes deeper than emotional experience.
There is a place of relationship with God that will provide you a continual, unbroken supply of supernatural power - power that enables you to stand no matter what comes. Not just knowledge about the armor. Not just doctrine. A life of genuine strength that flows from genuine union with Him.
"I will be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
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